CUTTHROAT
by break-beat-dA
Summary: A lone wolf is caught stealing red-handed. After blood is spilled, he gains a new perspective. Sneasel TF collaboration oneshot.


CUTTHROAT

breakbeat & Shorpies

The streets of Goldenrod City were dimly lit by the moonlight which shone above the city. However, a pair of headlights soon come barreling down the streets, as a crummy black sedan, rusted and dented, heads quickly towards its destination through the empty streets.

Through the sedan's tinted and cracked windows was a young adult named Leroy, who wore a cheap black T-shirt and some faded jeans. At this hour, a normal, hard-working person more than normally wouldn't be speeding down the streets of a heavily densified city, headed to a location which only they would know.

However, Leroy wasn't a normal, hard-working person: he was a petty thief. For years, Leroy had attempted to capture a Pokemon in a fair and rightful manner, but only recently he had hit his breaking point. One hundred and eighty-three Pokemon Leroy has tried to capture within his lifetime, and every single time he was humiliated, degraded, or injured in the process, and the Pokemon would escape.

Leroy became a laughing stock within Goldenrod, his face was well known upon every inch of space which the city held. Every person knew Leroy as a failure. Only recently, however—a thief. He was sick of the treatment he was receiving from others. He was sick of what was being handed to him in life. His screw-ups, his failures, his bout in Pokemon catching. All of them made him loathe his hometown and escalated his attitude towards the people of Goldenrod to a whole new level. He wanted vengeance for the way they treated him, mocking him, laughing at him, so he decided what better way was there to tear others down and make them feel worse than stealing from them?

Sure, Leroy had started small. He would steal a package off of a doorstep every now and then, or some candy from a gas station…

...But Leroy had bigger plans. He wanted to be infamous, he wanted to not be a laughing stock, but be feared by the residency of his city. For years now, Goldenrod City was planning the unveiling of a new museum. This museum would be host to gems, artifacts, and all kinds of valuables. The museum opened up just a couple of weeks following Leroy's descent into crime: the perfect opportunity to show the aspiring young thief who the real fuck-ups were.

There was one item within the museum which Leroy had heard about every time the museum itself was mentioned—and it was known to most simply as 'The Diamond'. Leroy knew that if he could somehow 'procure' the gemstone, then he would be down in the record books as one of the greatest thieves of all time. Quite the dream for a person who couldn't even capture their first Pokemon. What made Leroy believe he could catch a heavily guarded gemstone if he couldn't even catch a sleeping Metapod? Only he would know.

Leroy soon pulled up to the Goldenrod Museum's back entrance, his junker coming to a stop with a loud screeching noise. His breaks definitely needed some tuning, then again, so did the rest of his worthless sedan. His car may have been loud, but Leroy was going to make sure that he wouldn't.

Grabbing the bag upon his passenger seat, Leroy watched the back entrance from the safety of his car. He saw flashlights within the place. Guards, for sure. He scanned the property, raising an eyebrow. He saw no way in aside from the doors. However, as he saw a guard walk out the back-door and shined his light to the side, Leroy noticed that he had shined his flashlight onto a small, puny window attached to the concrete pathway. They were basement windows, undoubtedly. Better yet, it was open just a smidge. With that careless feature and his size, Leroy knew that he could slip in through the window. He cracked a smile, seeing his way in.

As the guard walked down another pathway, Leroy silently stepped out of his car which was parked openly on the side of the street. It wasn't too suspicious, however, as the Goldenrod Museum was host to several parking meter spots along the perimeter of the place. Tossing some change into the meter, Leroy booked it across the large grassy field towards the window. He held his bag with him, it was filled with supplies he would need for his heist after all.

He soon made it to the window and looked around him, also looking for any sign of anything that could catch him in the act. He heard several noises around him but was thankful that nothing had quite happened yet to him. He wasn't caught—nobody had rushed out to find him. He must have just been in the right place at the right time, luckily for the petty thief.

Cameras were everywhere in the museum, whirring sounds to communicate their rotational pivoting in as a boycott to inertia. Of course, there would be them for something as priceless as the diamond.

It's a suicide mission going into the museum, no doubt, but it's a suicide mission that's worth the trouble.

"Let's do this," Leroy whispered to himself once the last guard walked out. Silently slipping in through the cracked-open basement window, he began his journey.

Falling down onto the floor, Leroy hoped that would be the last noise he'd hear or make. Hugging the wall to silence his steps, he made his way out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

The hallway stretching out of the room was barren, only the zig-zag pattern of the cracked marble walls was able to keep him engaged on the task at hand. Slipping through the short hallway undetected, he made his way stealthily into the main basement room.

The stairs were to the sides of the room, as he had planned out beforehand. Only about 2 guards were roaming the room, but he knew better than to suspect those were the only people in the basement. Hiding behind a couple of bookshelves and boxes should be enough to cover him. Making his way to the leftmost stairs, Leroy quickly ran up the flight once the guards looked away, making his way into the back of the main museum show.

Of course, he wasn't done after this. The vault was at the back of the main room, of course, to keep unsuspecting bypassers away. Trekking to the vault, carefully listening to the harmony of whirs and footsteps, Leroy hid behind center walls portraying artworks and historical displays of ancient times. It almost became a mind game.

It's almost too bad finding out that the entrance to The Diamond's room was protected by lasers wasn't much fun. If only there was some way to turn off power in a building… Suspecting the power box was located in the basement, Leroy cursed under his breath and prepared to backtrack. However, as soon as he started, he heard the cameras surrounding him stop moving.

Looking back, the lasers in front of the vault door were turned off as well. Could it be that a VIP was coming to inspect the diamond? Whatever the case, Leroy threw himself against the vault door, ready to crack it open quick and take the riches inside. After opening the vault door, with a surprising lack of any guards or civilians coming to investigate, Leroy made his way into the forsaken room.

And there it stood. The famous jewel, standing valiantly on top of a cushion on top of a pedestal in the middle of the room. The reflection of moonlight coming from the room's protected skylights only magnified the light-blue stone's beauty. A red carpet ran to the stairs leading up to the pedestal, and a protective glass was the last obstacle in between him and the treasure.

He pulled out my trusted glass cutter, slowing piercing through each chip of glass, pivoting around the end in a circular motion. Soon enough, a whole circle was cut, and now it was time for the crack. Too hard, and the whole thing would break, setting off the alarm. Too light, and it wouldn't budge. Breathing in and closing his eyes to concentrate, he started swinging the blunt end of the cutter back and forth away from the pedestal, getting the angles and power just right, like a baseball bat.

Once enough courage was summoned, Leroy swung forward and split the circular glass piece in half. It worked.

He stumbled backward. He had done it. The diamond, it was all his. All of it.

Was it really the diamond? The famous jewel that only the best are supposed to claim? Was it because of skill? Was it luck? Was it just that nobody else ever dared to complete this?

As soon as Leroy cupped my hands, though, he got an answer to his questions. And it wasn't an answer anybody exactly wanted.

_ Click._

A cylinder-shaped object pushed into the back of his head for a second, before pulling back. He froze and held his hands up; a small laugh came from the back. "I'll admit it, I didn't think you could make it there, big guy. Those were a lot of guards you slipped by, it's almost a shame you didn't suspect me killing them while you went on ahead. But there are some things in life..."

_ Bang._

_ Squish._

Everything slowed down to a crawl. Everything at the top-back of the thief's skull was on fire. Everything was a high-pitched ringing. He began to have trouble piecing any of the previous events together. Not like he wanted to, anyway. Leroy's soon body flopped down onto the steps. A few dying thoughts were only that this murderer aimed for the back of his head to watch Leroy suffer through his final moments, and that this was also how he was going to die.

The last few spurts of blood were still soaring through the air, though it didn't look anything like the blood that the thief could think to come out of himself. He desperately hoped it wasn't his own at this point, but both the truth and lack of blood tugged at his heart.

"...That just aren't meant for people like you," a thin pair of lips smirked. The dying thief could only insult him back with his last remaining gasps and choked inhales of air, staring into his face with pure fear and hatred. He aimed the pistol directly in Leroy's face. This is how he was going to die.

_ Splat._

Both of them stood still, wondering what happened before it clicked with Leroy. His blood just landed on the diamond, tainting the purity of the diamond forever. The murderer's eyes enlarged. Yeah, no, this is definitely how he's going to die.

Or that's what was expected. Instead, his face remained fixated to the diamond, never once looking back to the thief, maddened with rage. Leroy rolled my eyeballs upward with his few moments of consciousness. A light-blue glow was brightening with each second from the top of his peripheral vision to their disbeliefs. What in the hell was going on?

The glowing grew brighter and brighter until eventually, his whole sight blinked in and out of whiteness. Is this death?

Before Leroy could think twice - he began to feel the pain from his head seeming to drain, almost as if it was going numb, or it was just losing out on all of the blood circulating throughout his body. The blood flow even seemed to stop coming from his head - as if the wound had merely healed automatically as his eyes continued to remain fixated on the diamond. Leroy's new acquaintance seemed to realize the same thing he had and tilted his head.

Leroy looked up at the man, breaking his gaze from the diamond. With is blood having touched the diamond, Leroy almost began to feel… better.

His hair almost seemed to fall out around the puncture wound. Oddly enough, Leroy's skull and head had repaired themselves within a few short moments. The strange part, however, was the fact that Leroy's previously busted head now held a layer of dark bluish-green fur where had once been human skin and hair. It was an unbelievable sight - such a short recovery in such a short time, with the side effect of hair loss and gaining of fur.

The bluish-green fur continued to spread upon Leroy's head once his hair was gone, coating the top of his head in the stuff. It made his acquaintance unnerved, and very worried. But sure enough, the fur kept on spreading. As it continued to spread, Leroy felt as changed began to occur to his skull. It became more vertically altered, and inhumane to boot. The defining features from his chin, cheekbones, and jawline all seemed to fade as his skull seemed to become more round - the fur dragging it into this state slowly.

Once the fur had completed its journey around Leroy's cranium, he felt as his lips seemed to recede into his face, his mouth extending just a bit on each side, growing longer. Along with the longer mouth, the interior of his mouth also began to change, as Leroy was given sharp fangs, and an altered tongue to fit his new appearance, just as his nose became small, black, and wet, only being a dot upon his face.

Leroy's eyes grew a black border around them as if the border had emerged from his eyelashes, which almost seemed to tug them into a state of menacing appearance. Leroy's pupils grew much smaller and turned red with a black core. His eyes were triangular and seemed to give him the look of always being up to something, no matter what.

Up next were Leroy's ears. He felt as they seemed to move to the top of his head. While the ear upon the right side of Leroy's head merely grew the same layer of the dark fur, growing upward to gain a dull point on the top, Leroy's left ear was a-whole-nother story. The left ear seemed to extend past the right and turn pink. It seemed overgrown, and abnormal compared to his head - it almost appeared to be a large feather sitting upon the top of Leroy's head. However, it served the same functionality as any ear would bring him. He then began to feel a pressing upon the skull of his forehead - a yellow marking extending from his cranium slowly, and very oddly.

The changes to Leroy's head were complete, and it was plainly noticed by the very man who had put him into this state in the first place. He still looked on in worry and shock, even taking a few steps back, while Leroy's gaze turned to him. He felt no pain emanating from his skull, his wounds had healed themselves in a freakish manner. Leroy cracked a small smile, the relief from his survival washing over him. However, that relief would turn into cocky pride soon enough…

Leroy's neck shrank down, as was the rest of his body. His head almost seemed to meet with the torso right at his shoulders, the layer of Leroy's new coat of fur spreading downward continuously. As the fur spreads past his arms, it then begins to grow up the arms.

Leroy's arms become thinner, his body shrinking smaller and smaller, as the fur continues to grow upon them. Leroy's arms seem to lose definition, muscle, and fat as well, his bones even seemed to grow thinner within them to compensate for the new thin stature of his arms. His elbows seemed to become much less defined, almost as if disappearing entirely within his new scrawny arms.

As his arms became both furrier and scrawnier, also shrinking down quite a bit, Leroy looked at his hands to see them both changing shape, as well as complexion oddly enough. They turned white, growing hard, as his new white hands lost three fingers upon each one. His fingers were now much thicker - but that wasn't the end of that. They painfully contracted, growing curved, turning into two pairs of white claws sitting upon his wrists!

It was an unbelievable sight to see a human changing and morphing. The other man couldn't quite handle it, he shook his head, backing up, he couldn't comprehend what was going on, not in the slightest. Hell, Leroy could barely figure out what was happening to him. All he knew was that his clothes were becoming looser, his hands became weird and awkward, and that he wasn't going to die—yet.

The fur continued to spread down Leroy's torso. As it moved downward, his body seemed to grow awkward and hunched, just slightly, however. His frame became thicker at the base of his torso, growing slightly thinner the further up his body one would look. His head and arms were now pretty much trapped within his shirt now as well, which allowed him to see perfectly what was going on to his chest. Upon Leroy's furry chest, began to grow a yellow marking just like what was upon his forehead.

Leroy began to feel a pressing upon his rear. Three pink feathers, just like his left ear, began to grow in just above his rear end. They grew vertically upon his back, each pink feather sticking out like a sore thumb, and each one giving off an impression of Leroy's new form being quite the hunter.

Up next were Leroy's legs. They shrunk down as the fur began to grow upon them, becoming much thinner just as his arms had. His knees lost their definition—just as it had been with his elbows. The fur continued to grow down, his bone, muscle and fat dissipating quite a bit. However, the fur finally reached Leroy's ankles, and before he knew it, his feet were changing and transforming too.

Leroy's feet seemed to grow outward quite a bit compared to his new three-foot self. His feet became nice and furry, covered in the same dark greenish-blue fur which had plagued the rest of his body. However, when the fur reached Leroy's toes, that's when things truly began to change. Leroy's toes began to grow white and hard, just as his hands had. Suddenly, his ten toes turned into four, his remaining toes thickening up quite a bit, becoming long, and pointed, becoming clawed feet! Leroy's clawed toes were very sharp and appeared to be able to cut anything just as well as his new hands, if not better.

While Leroy's exterior frame seemed to be complete, his senses were still way off. His sense of smell became much more powerful and stronger. His eyesight, while turning black and white, became keen, and much more honed to see almost anything. His hearing adjusted so that he could hear the heartbeat of his enemies, and the slightest beeping of a silent security system. He also felt as his reflexes became severely altered, changing for the better, his reflexes becoming better than any human thief he could ever hope to be.

Leroy struggled within his black shirt, making his way out of it quickly, however, seeing the way out. He stood upon his two feet, looking up at the man who had 'murdered' Leroy - who appeared shocked, unaware of the true velocity of what had just happened. Leroy cracked a smile as he looked upon his new clawed arms, and small, sleek body, admiring his new maxed senses as well.

'With this… I can become the best thief the world has ever known! Being a Sneasel could be perfect!' Leroy thought to himself, looking up at his murderer.

"W-What the _fuck?!_" he heard, followed by fumbling for a certain gun.

Leroy was now the one to smirk. This man wants some of him; well, he can have some. Sprinting down on his four legs, the Sneasel grabbed the side of his leg, wrapping around it. Jumping up into the air quickly, he revolved around him, rather confused and leading his gun to the back of Leroy. Dashing in front of his face, the adrenaline slowing down time momentarily, Leroy's right hand eager to teach this murderer a lesson. Swinging a clawed arm up, a slash appeared on part of his face.

He let go of his gun, screaming in pain, clutching his head. Another gunshot fired off as it landed, firing into the wall. Realizing a way out, the Sneasel jumped off, dashing towards the diamond. Jumping to reach the height of the pedestal, he latched onto the prized jewel with his left hand, using his leg's momentum to clutch the pedestal, and pushed against it, allowing himself to 180°. Throwing the diamond into the air, it landed precisely back down into his mouth, wherein he gripped the end with his teeth. Leaping off the pedestal, the petty thief scrambled to the walls.

Scaling up the gripping of the wall decals, he ran up to the ceiling window, busting through it loud enough to cause a racket with the remaining guards, soon staring back down at his would-be-murderer. Leroy smiled, throwing his prized diamond up into the air, before catching it with his hands and disappearing into the night.

And so, "The Legendary Thief" was born. Nobody's ever seen or heard from the thief since, but everyone knows about him, whether they like it or not. Leroy would continue being the master thief, and soon after would go on bigger and better heists. This day was a change for all, but Leroy looked back on it as a change for the better.

Well, at least for him.


End file.
